Doctor guilty on sex charges

Thu, 02/25/2010 - 10:26amBen Nelms

Decatur resident and former Grady Hospital doctor Adam Wayne Lebowitz has been convicted by a federal jury of sex crimes that stemmed from a 2006 investigation by the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office after receving a complaint from a 15 year-old male and his mother.
The 50 year-old Lebowitz was found guilty of one count of producing child pornography and one count of attempting to coerce and entice a minor to engage in unlawful sex acts.

“If not for the diligence of a mother and her son, and the quick work of county and federal law enforcement, this doctor could still be preying upon young victims. As a doctor, this defendant was responsible for protecting the health and safety of children, but instead endangered the physical and emotional safety of children by exploiting them. He will no longer be able to do that behind the bars of a federal prison,” acting United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said of the verdicts.

According to Yates and the evidence presented in court, Lebowitz came to the attention of the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office on Oct. 26, 2006, after a victim, a 15-year-old boy, received a series of emails on the MySpace website, and sexually graphic instant messages on the AOL website, from Lebowitz. The victim’s mother contacted the sheriff’s office and reported these on-line messages sent by Lebowitz to her son. The sheriff’s office then began an undercover investigation of Lebowitz that culminated in his arrest in the driveway of the victim’s home on Nov. 2, 2006, according to court documents.
Evidence at trial showed Lebowitz had planned to transport the victim to his home in Decatur and had multiple condoms and sexual lubricants inside his vehicle at the time of his arrest.

Following the arrest, the sheriff’s office obtained and executed a warrant to search Lebowitz’s home. During the search, investigators seized three computers, two of which contained video recordings of Lebowitz engaged in sex acts with two young boys, prosecutors said. Investigators discovered that these same video recordings were located on a VHS tape found inside his home during the search.

Members of the FBI’s “Safe Child Task Force” identified the victims in the video recordings and contacted them. Both victims revealed that Lebowitz had recorded himself engaged in graphic sex acts with these victims when both were minors. An examination of Lebowitz’s computers, performed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), revealed that he sent images from his recordings of the two young victims over the Internet. He was indicted on the charges on June 12, 2007 and a superseding indictment was filed on Feb. 9, 2010, according to court documents.

“The Coweta County Sheriff’s Office appreciates the work of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and all agencies involved in bringing this case forward. Hopefully a very long period of incarceration will follow so no one else will encounter this individual,” said Coweta County Sheriff Michael Yeager.
A sentencing date for Lebowitz has not yet been set before United States District Judge Richard W. Story. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years to life for producing pornography and a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years to life for attempting to coerce a minor.

The case was investigated by members of the FBI’s “Safe Child Task Force,” the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office, the Clayton County Police Department, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) with assistance from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Computer Forensics Division. Assistance in this case was also provided by the Coweta County District Attorney’s Office.